I feel a little lost. Though I know physically where I am, I don’t know where I am in the sense of where I really belong.
I love the Bay Area. Having lived here for three years, I’ve grown very fond of it’s people and its quirks. I love the many restaurants that dot the city. I love the bars and it’s eclectic mix of patrons. I love the weather and its annoying ability to change at the drop of a hat. I love it all.
At the same time, I don’t know where I want to be. I’ve lived in California most of my life. I need a change of pace. Moving up here from Southern California was probably the best thing I’ve ever done – the Bay Area is my speed. This is the type of life I want to live. I feel as if my life is incomplete – I haven’t spent much time outside of the state.
Things are weird for me right now. My program is finishing up and I can go wherever I want to for a job. I don’t have a place I want to be, I just have a desire to be.
In this new book about San Francisco, the author looks into our definition of place – not just a geographic location, but the complete sense of it. From the culture that surrounds, to the physical buildings that imprison in, place is defined not only by geography but by society and culture. The relationships we have between people and places.
I’ve often referred to my interest in geography and urban planning as being about SPACE – the physical location we all live in day to day. But maybe what I am interested in is PLACE – the space we live in, along with our networks and connections. This is what information science should look at, our sense of place and it’s connection to information discovery, sharing, creation.
Book Review: ‘Infinite City: A San Francisco Atlas’ – latimes.com.